Kain comes from a far away land, where he belongs to a legendary clan
of Dragoons. As a Dragoon, Kain excelled in the use of swords and
spears, wielding a powerful jump attack as well. He was assigned to
work with the Dark Knight of the Kingdom of Baron, Cecil, on a special
mission which involved delivering a package. The mission turned out
to be a phony, as the package exploded into a burst of flames when
Cecil and Kain reached the village of Mist, killing all of the
legendary Callers except for one, a young child named Rydia. After
the unintentional massacre a series of disasters struck, separating
Kain from Cecil.

The next time Kain showed up, he seemed to be under some sort of
hypnotic spell, as he attacked Cecil and took the Wind Crystal away
from the kingdom of Fabul. He was also instrumental in capturing
the Earth Crystal for his master, Golbez. At the Tower of Zot, Kain
regains consciousness after the legendary Sage Tellah sacrifices his
own life in an attempt to avenge his daughter's death at the command
of Golbez. Kain rejoins Cecil and his party, and serves invaluably in
the ensuing battle against Valvalis, the Fiend of Wind.

At that time it was thought that Golbez had all of the Sacred Crystals,
but Kain revealed that there were four more to retrieve in the world
underground. He accompanied Cecil and his companions down to the world
of the Gnomes. It seemed as if the spell on Kain regained its hold,
forcing Kain's loyalty to sway once again. Kain again turned on Cecil,
making Cecil's quest even more difficult. There were essentially
phases where Kain was under Golbez's spell and phases where he wasn't,
and that continued for a long time.

However, it was eventually revealed that even Golbez was under someone's
control, namely a lunar spirit named Zemus. Cecil broke the spell on
Golbez and consequently Kain, and discovered that Golbez was actually
his brother! Kain rejoined the party once again, and went on to
help Cecil defeat Zemus and his re-incarnation, Zeromus.